Friends Like These
by icepixel
Summary: G'Kar decides that since they're friends now, it's his duty to give Garibaldi advice.  Set sometime in season three after "Voices of Authority." Ivanova/Garibaldi.


"When _are_ you going to ask Commander Ivanova on what you humans so charmingly refer to as a 'date'?"

Michael Garibaldi nearly spat his mouthful of water across the table. "_What?_" he finally managed to ask, wheezing, after he'd forced himself to swallow. He'd come by G'Kar's quarters to get translations for some of the more idiomatic expressions in the Book of G'Quan, not to get interrogated about his love life. Or lack thereof, as the case may be, but he certainly wasn't telling G'Kar that. "Why on Earth do you think I'd want to do that?"

His friend looked rather surprised at his reaction. "No need to be touchy. I was merely trying to be helpful. Friendly, even."

He _would_ think that because they were friends now, that entitled him to butt into his personal life.

"I simply noticed that you spend a lot of time with her, and you often seem to, as you say, flirt with each other."

Okay, yeah, so he and Ivanova spent some off-duty time together. And they did tend to tease each other a lot. And maybe if you didn't know that it meant nothing it might look like flirting, but... "G'Kar. It's not like that. We work together. We're friends."

"Yes."

Garibaldi could practically hear the "And?" hanging in the air. This was just what he needed: his own personal Narn matchmaker. "It's not like that," he repeated, hoping it sounded like the last word.

"I see."

He should really know better than to try and have the last word with G'Kar.

Mercifully, he dropped the subject, returning to the issue of passive voice in Narnish and what that did to a sentence's direct object. Garibaldi's concentration, though, was pretty well shot for the rest of the session.

* * *

Two days later, he and Ivanova shared a lift from the Zocalo back to their quarters in Blue Sector. To his _great_ irritation, G'Kar's question kept ringing in his mind every time he looked at her. Truth be told, he'd had trouble not thinking about it ever since their conversation. The thing was, he always had enjoyed spending time with her, teasing her about her cynicism while she snarked on his paranoia; and he did trust her more than anyone since Jeff Sinclair, and she _was_ gorgeous... _Oh, what the hell._

"Susan," he said as they stopped at the door to her quarters. She met his eyes, and suddenly his throat constricted. _I must be out of my mind,_ he thought, but he took a breath and managed to squeeze out, "Do you want to have dinner tomorrow?"

"Sure," she replied. "Do you want me to invite the Captain and Stephen?"

Oh, this wasn't going to be awkward at all. He silently cursed G'Kar's name. "I thought it could be just us this time."

Her gaze sharpened. A vision of the bar brawl she'd started in the Casino a couple years ago floated in front of his eyes. "Is this just dinner, or are you asking me out on a date?"

He made a show of shrugging. "Up to you."

"Oh, no," she said, crossing her arms. "You are not weaseling out like that."

Ah, hell. "Well," he said, drawing it out as he tried to decide to decide which response would entail less pain for him. Her expression wasn't giving him much to go on. "I was thinking date, actually. If you're interested."

For a horrible, heartstopping moment, she didn't react at all. He was going to _kill_ G'Kar. As soon as he regained cardiopulmonary function, anyway.

Finally, her lips twitched. She smiled, and he felt his heart start beating again. It was painful, and not nearly as romantic as one might believe. "Okay," she said. "What time?"

He searched for a moment and found his tongue. "1900?"

She nodded. They worked out the details (he'd come by her quarters a few minutes before 1900; where they were eating was going to be a surprise because he hadn't thought that far ahead when he'd asked her, but she should definitely wear something nice) and said good night. It was less weird than he'd anticipated, which put him in a very good frame of mind as he continued on to his quarters.

He had a date with Susan Ivanova.

Maybe he wouldn't kill G'Kar after all.

* * *

The next time he saw G'Kar, after two dates with Susan that had been more successful than he'd dared to hope, he couldn't help but notice the titanic effort his friend was making not to gloat. Bowing to the inevitable, he told him, "All right, you can say it."

"Say what?" he asked, completely failing at looking the picture of innocence. Garibaldi raised an eyebrow.

"Ahhh, you mean, 'I told you so,'" G'Kar said, as if this were a revelation. "Well, what are friends for if not to point out the obvious?"

Garibaldi, who had been in an extremely agreeable mood for a solid week now, a fact which was starting to worry his subordinates, merely nodded good naturedly.

"You know, there's another book I should give you," G'Kar continued. "You have something similar in your culture, but it's not nearly as comprehensive. I believe you call it the _Kama Sutra_?"


End file.
